Comment by ThinkBeat | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ThinkBeat | Hacker News Reader

The problem with the disaster reporting on the climate is that it is starting to feel like the child who cried wolf.

I have no idea for how many years I have heard "Unless we act right now, NOW, we are all FUCKED".

Ok. so that was 20 years ago, its still: "Unless we act right now, NOW, we are all FUCKED".

Either the models were wrong and have been adjusted every year. or more likely the people shouting about reports who didnt entirely do their homework.

I have no doubt that things are getting worse. but reading speeches from 20 years ago, right now we would all be dead, beneath the sea, no food, etc etc.

Instead, here we are, a few billion more folks, consumption, and production still increasing.

The Paris goal is well and truly blown to bits by now in any sane analysis. Which we know means we are fucked.

Yet:

Norway holds the most passionate speeches at various conferences and such yet. Oslo keeps buling all the big cultural buildings and most expensive housing right at the water's edge, that will shortly be partially under water. and pumps and produces as much oil and gas as possible.

Yet: Netherlands has not started evacuating the parts fofthe country already under the waterline.

Yet: Biden giving speeches on the climate. Interpreted and translated by Greta: "Blah blah blah blah jobs, blah blah build back better blah blah".

And you see Joe opening up for drilling on federal lands, US #1 producer of oil, 2/3 from fracking.

Now either Joe doesnt not believe in his own speeches, and does not believe in science. Or he is one sadistic person.

You cant be green and still do your best to increase the production of gas and oil.

There is strong doublethink at work here. One thing is said in passionate speeches. The direct opposite is executed.

Personally, I concluded some time ago that we are fucked. and now like George Carlin said you can sit back and watch the show.

> I have no doubt that things are getting worse. but reading speeches from 20 years ago, right now we would all be dead, beneath the sea, no food, etc etc.

While you may have had some crazies saying massive ocean rise was imminent, etc-- that was never a reasonable belief. It's going to take decades before it clears out lots of habitable coastal land.

Early 80's papers said by 2025 we'd have 13-55 cm of sea level rise. It's the beginning of 2024, and we've had about 15cm (a bit above the low end of the range with a year to go); the slope of the increase is now around the middle of the forecasted range-- similar magnitude of effect, but it took a bit longer than most authors thought to get going.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Projecting_Future_Sea_L...

> Ok. so that was 20 years ago, its still: "Unless we act right now, NOW, we are all FUCKED".

The thing is, we're already all fucked. A lot of the negative consequences are now locked in (though we're not sure how badly). Now we're just playing the game of adding more negative consequences.

Yeah i live in a traditionally rain forest region that doesn't normally burn, we've got patches of forest that up until recently haven't seen fire in a few hundred years/thousand years for some of it.

Spent 9 months blanketed in smoke a few years back, many of those areas experienced fire for the first time ever. Things are definitely pretty pucked. You sit back and watch the show folks.... are truly the worst. The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.

Well what you doing to stop climate change at a level that makes a difference?

Whatever I personally do, as long as Norway/US continue producing as much fossile fuel as possible (and they are not alone, but they are (I think) by far the worst in saying one thing and doing the other. <

And yes every bit helps, but not enough to make a huge difference. Whatever is predicted will happen now.

A realistic new temperature goal is probably 2.0 - 2.5 with the way things are progressing at this very moment.

Have you been outside?

The South is frozen right now and late last summer Alcapoca got hit with what went from a category 1 hurricane and in two nights over the gulf turned into a category 5 and decimated the entire town.

I think you may have had a bit too much cynic juice

> Yet: Netherlands has not started evacuating the parts fofthe country already under the waterline

Um.

There's plenty dubious about the comment, but that's not a mistake; they have dikes, dams, and sea barriers. The question is how long they'll be viable with ocean rise.

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